Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Perhaps Mayor Daley should have played this before striking the parking meter deal

And here's a screen grab from the version I remember playing. Even in that version, however, I'm sure a future-mortgaging rip-off like the parking-meter lease deal would have been a losing move.

Posted at 10:32:38 AM

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

The funny thing is that the current version of SimCity was a ripoff debacle just like the parking meters deal; EA/Maxis released a crippled version that only works if you're connected to the internet and then lied about it supposedly being a social-gaming feature instead of the obvious anti-piracy act it is. They rightly were pilloried for it, especially since they hadn't prepared their servers for it and almost no one could play the game for about a week.

The current version (SimCity 5) is still a train wreck in motion as documented by current reviews for this game at Amazon. It's been almost two months since the release and this game is still a definite "no-buy".

Chris, I have tried it and it's an incredibly crippled version, barely playable. Pedestrians walk in circles, police don't take direct routes, the tax system is insane (everyone leaves if you try to pay for anything), you can't have a decent sized city as compared to early versions and you still can't play a proper solo version. There's no point in buying it.

You can't even save a game, let a disaster loose for kicks and then load your saved game.

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
More about Eric Zorn

Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.